ASX200 closes in the red for the fifht straight session

Australia’s sharemarket finished in the red on Friday as consumer discretionary and financials continued to weigh on the local market.

Australia’s sharemarket fell for the fifth straight trading session on Friday as investors continue to punish businesses for any misses in their results during the reporting season.

The benchmark ASX200 index fell by 26.6 points or 0.32 per cent to close the week at 8296.20 points for a 20-day low.

The broader All Ordinaries also fell down 30.80 points or 0.36 per cent to 8570.90.

The Australian dollar fell 0.17 per cent to 63.90 US cents.

The Australian sharemarket fell for the fifth straight session on the latest reporting season results. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Six of the 11 sectors finished the trading session in the red with consumer discretionary stocks posting the largest losses for the day.

Wesfarmers fell 1.93 per cent to $76.12 while Star Entertainment Group is down 3.57 per cent to $0.135 and Lovisa Holdings slumped 2.81 per cent to $29.30 ahead of its earnings on Monday.

The big four banks also continued their market sell-off with CBA down 2.57 per cent to $151.73, while ANZ dropped 1.43 per cent to $28.79, NAB dragged 0.085 per cent to $35.08 and Westpac slumped 0.60 per cent to $31.03.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said despite the issues with the big banks and miners, more companies were still beating expectations than missing, after nearly 70 per cent of businesses reported their half year earnings.

“While the reporting season started off strongly, as is often the case, results over the last week were softer with disappointing bank results and falling earnings and dividend cuts for resources companies,” he said.

Dr Oliver said businesses had been priced to perfection, with a miss in earnings often resulting in a huge swing in share price.

“We have also been seeing a further increase in share price volatility around results with company share prices moving more than nine per cent on average on reporting day,” Dr Oliver said.

Friday’s reporting season was led by Mexican food retailer Guzman Y Gomez plummeting 14.24 per cent to $38.58 after announcing strong same-store sales in Australia, but a downbeat outlook in the US.

It was the worst performing share on the ASX on Friday.

GYG was heavily traded following its half year results. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

In Australia same store sales rose 9.4 per cent to $573m, while Singapore network sales went up 35.7 per cent to $30.2 million and Japanese sales improved by 8.6 per cent to $4.6m.

Guzman Y Gomez co-chief executive Steven Marks said the Australian business showed strong same store growth over the first six-months.

“This result was led by Australia and reflects momentum driven by the delivery channel, our impactful marketing and demand for value menu items like our $12 Chicken Mini Meal,” he said.

But in the all important US market sales fell 12.7 per cent to $4.9m, while overall underlying EBITDA loss sank 62 per cent to $5m.

Shares in lottery operator Jumbo Interactive also fell 8.78 per cent to $11.95 after announcing a decline in earnings for the first half. The business says this was due to the subdued environment for jackpots.

The Block Inc share price was also heavily in the red after the Afterpay owner announced mixed results. It closed the week down 5.87 per cent to $124.08.

The dual Australian and US listed company’s gross profit came in at $US8.89bn, up 18 per cent year on year. Square said net revenue came in at $US6.032bn, up 4 per cent from a year earlier, including Cash App transactions for Bitcoin.

Shares in Nine Entertainment were the best performing on the ASX 200 up 20.13 per cent to $1.73 on the back of US online real estate powerhouse CoStar looking to buy Domain Group for $2.65bn. Domain shares soared 40 per cent to $4.37 on the announcement.

REA Group and News Corporation shares also fell on the announcement, with REA down 11.35 per cent to $236.18.

Originally published as ASX200 closes in the red for the fifht straight session